A Delayed Meeting
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: "I feel out of control at times..." "Life roughs us up at times... but we fight back." With Calderone dead, Ali thought she'd feel some sense of relief... but she felt numb. When an old family friend comes back into her life with his own family, what will happen? (Where I Don't Know The Names Of Any Of The Players AU)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Amber, Brady and Julia Crockett are Cry-Of-A-Warp-Engine's characters.**

 **Miami Beach Senior High...**

Weeks had passed since the chaos that left Esteban Calderone dead… and the changes were noticeable.

Miguel looked up at his 14 year old sister Alison, who picked at her spaghetti while both ate lunch in the school cafeteria… and now he had decided to ask why she was barely talking and trying to pretend she was okay.

"Ali? You're not okay, are you?" Miguel asks.

"I don't think any of us will ever be okay." Ali says quietly, Miguel carefully wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Ali flinched, Miguel knowing that it had been instinctive to being touched without warning after being attacked.

Lunch ended and Ali wasn't looking forward to her last two classes… but instead of finding Jake Ballard, she found a boy about her age and nearly twice Jake's size… and he looked eerily similar to Billy Crockett.

"Hi… you new here?" Ali asks.

"Yeah, something along those lines." The boy says, his voice reminding Ali of someone, it just rang bells somewhere in her memory.

"Well… welcome to Miami. I'm Ali… Ali Castillo." Ali says, extending her right hand cautiously as she thought he might pull it off by accident.

"Hey, it's alright, I'm a gentle giant. Brady Crockett." The boy says.

"Nice to meet you." Ali says as they briefly shook hands, Brady noticing a faded scar on Ali's arm.

"What happened there?" Brady asks as they sit down.

"Got pulled off the monkey bars when I was 7… a former friend wanted to play basketball but I wanted to keep playing on the bars, he pulled my right leg too hard, I slipped… and smashed up my arm in two places." Ali says, Brady cringing in sympathy.

The two talked for a bit… and then Brady noticed Ali tense up slightly when Jake walked in, Jake looking down. But Jake's friend Todd had other ideas and grabbed the football from his backpack, throwing it at Ali's head… and Brady catching it in time and standing up, facing the other boys.

"Hello to you too. Is there gonna be a problem here?" Brady says, throwing the ball just above his head and catching it a few times.

"Stay outta this!" Todd snapped.

"If you insist." Brady says, slowly walking over to Todd and holding the ball out to him, Todd going to grab it… but at the last second, Brady bounced the ball hard off of Todd's face, grabbing him by his shirt and swinging him around, pinning him down on the nearby desk. "As I said, is there gonna be a problem here, pal?!" He growls.

"N… No… can you let me go please?" Todd says shakily.

"Good." Brady says, putting Todd back on his feet. "Now… leave that girl alone or we'll have another… encounter." He says, letting go of Todd's shirt.

Todd and Jake bolted out of the classroom and stopped when they were in the east hallway.

"What… is the deal with that guy?" Todd asks.

"Guess he didn't like you trying to harm Ali." Jake says.

Back in the classroom, Brady sat down next to Ali, who was trying not to laugh.

"Go on, I know you want to." Brady says with a smile.

Ali let her laughter out, Brady laughing too.

"Damn, I don't think I ever seen them run off so fast!" Ali says.

"I've fought way tougher assholes. If he's got any sense, he'll keep his distance. If not… I'm pretty sure there's no CCTV behind the bike shed." Brady says.

 **Miami Dade Police Department…**

"Damn Ramirez… I have half a mind to put him on suspension." Martin mutters, sifting through the paperwork that had been written up wrong… and unaware that his old friend Sonny was in the doorway.

"Sounds like some things never change." Sonny says, Martin freezing for a moment after hearing the voice before looking up.

"I'll be damned… it's great to see you again, Sonny." Martin says before standing up, him and Sonny hugging… and after letting go, Sonny saw a recent picture of Ali on Martin's desk and smiled.

"She's really growing up… how are Gina and the kids nowadays?" Sonny says.

"It's… been rough, Sonny. That picture was taken at Ali's 14th birthday and about two months after, she was attacked. Her friend Ryan Rivera intervened before it got too far but the attacker didn't stop after that night." Martin says, Sonny looking at him.

"That's just… damn it, that's way too similar…" Sonny says.

"Sonny? Way too similar to what?" Martin asks. Sonny walked over to the computer and brought up a page, Martin surprised when he entered in access codes to the Alaskan police database, typing in _Amber Crockett_ before clicking on the name as it came up, scrolling down to a part of the file added about 9 months ago. "Your daughter… was it the same guy?" He asks.

"It was three guys and they only caught one, turned out to be nothing more than the guy who owned their car and the revolver which…" Sonny says, finishing by pointing to a part of the file, which Martin read… Amber hadn't just been attacked, she'd been shot twice in her chest, one bullet shattering ribs and the other tearing open an artery. "She lost a hell of a lot of blood… they had to bring her back three times with defibrillators, first when they got there and twice in the ambulance." He says.

"That is similar… Ali had been shot in the leg but it didn't stop her from shooting Calderone in the back of the head as he turned to kill Miguel." Martin says, Gina walking into the office… and her and Sonny hugging.

"I missed you." Gina whispers as tears filled up her eyes.

"I missed you too, darlin." Sonny says.


	2. Chapter 2

**An hour and a half later…**

"Oh, it's beautiful here but Miami has a history kept off the books." Ali says as she and Brady walked down the hallway, the two stopping by Ali's locker and her opening it… finding that her locker was disheveled, her IPod was stolen and _**'Lying Tramp!'**_ was spray painted on the door of the locker. "That damn bitch!" She growled, slamming the door shut as Brady saw Britt Wheeler nearby.

But before he could stop Ali, she stormed over, snatched her IPod out of Britt's locker and slammed the door shut, Britt jumping back.

"You break into my locker again and I'll break a hell of a lot more than your nose, you stuck up, thieving bitch!" Ali says angrily, Britt feigning innocence.

"Ali, I have no idea-" Britt says, Ali looking right at her like _"Shut up, I don't believe your bullshit!"_ and Britt walked away, Ali walking back to Brady.

"Looks like Todd didn't keep his mouth shut." Ali says, seeing that Brady had taken some hand sanitizer he kept with him and started scrubbing the spray paint off of her locker door with paper towels.

The two left and ended up taking the bus to the Miami Dade Police Department, Brady seeing Sonny's Ferrari Testarossa in the parking lot as he and Ali got off of the bus.

"I haven't seen that car here before, aside from in pictures." Ali says as she and Brady walked into the police station. "Wait, back to who you were talking about earlier… I didn't see her at school today. Where is your sister?" She says.

"Dad's… kept Amber out of school lately." Brady says, his phone ringing and him answering it. "Hey, sis." He says, Ali leaning against the wall.

Ali, deciding not to eavesdrop, snuck up behind Billy and placed her hands over his eyes, Billy smiling slightly at his cousin's antics and stood up, the two hugging.

"Crazy day, kiddo?" Billy asks as they let go.

"No more than usual." Ali says as Sonny walked over to them, Ali looking at him. "Hey, Uncle Sonny." She says before they hug.

The two let go… and Sonny could see the look in Ali's eyes, reminding him of how Amber was after her attack. It was that hesitant one, Ali thought Sonny might be scared off by what happened to her… but instead, Sonny rested his hands on Ali's slim shoulders in a reassuring manner.

"Let go of me, damn it! That bitch started it!" Everyone heard, looked and saw Stan dragging a girl of about 6'5" in, scrapes and bruises on her hands.

"What exactly happened?" Trudy asks.

"Fight broke out between this young lady and Scottie Wheeler's daughter, Britt, who's currently in the back of an ambulance headed to North Shore E.R." Stan says, forcing Amber to sit down as Sonny and Brady walked over to Amber.

"Alright Amber, what exactly did she do?" Sonny asks.

"She started mouthing off about how anyone who can't fight back against an attacker without help deserves whatever they get and it pissed me off." Amber says.

Brady looked back at Ali and could see the look in her eyes… Ali clearly felt the same way Amber did and he walked over to her.

"I'm gonna guess and say that it was around January of this year? I looked it up, there's been a string of attacks in Alaska, the midwest and recently, here in Miami." Ali says quietly, revealing a small scar on the palm of her left hand from the night of her attack. "Yeah… he attacked me too. I have nerve damage in that hand." She says, Brady noticing the bullet scar above Ali's left knee.

 **9/30/06, Abandoned warehouse in Miami…**

"Ooh, little girl with a-" Calderone says tauntingly.

"Let go of my brother, you son of a bitch!" Ali yells, the Colt .45 Python Revolver she stole from Billy aimed at Calderone, who held Miguel at gunpoint.

Calderone threw Miguel to the floor and shot Ali, who fell to her right knee… but as soon as Calderone turned to shoot Miguel, Ali stood up and pulled the trigger.

Miguel backed away as Calderone fell dead, Ali shaken up by what she had done… and Miguel did the only thing he could think of, walking over to Ali and taking the gun out of her hands before pulling his little sister in his arms, the two hugging.

"Is it really over?" Ali asks quietly.

"It's over, kiddo… he's gone." Miguel says as they look at each other.

"Are you okay?" Ali asks, tears in her eyes.

"Don't worry about me… just a cracked elbow, I think." Miguel says.

"I think after this, our parents are gonna make sure we're never out of their sight." Ali says, Miguel chuckling slightly as the two helped each other out of the warehouse, immediately greeted by SWAT and bright lights. "Don't shoot!" She says, dropping the gun as Martin and Gina ran over and hugged their kids.

 **Present time…**

"Hey…" Ali says, sitting across from Amber. "Don't worry… she shouldn't have been running her mouth." She says, Amber looking at her and could see the small scars on the corner of Ali's right eye, which Ali didn't bother to hide.

"Brady said he met you earlier." Amber says.

"He did… he chased off two guys who had been hassling me." Ali says.

"He's quick to do that. He'll protect anyone but wrong him once… well, you'd find that those two guys wouldn't be your only worry and trust me, Brady doesn't mess around, as I'm sure you saw." Amber says.

"Yeah, he bounced the football off of Todd's face… so what brought you all to Miami? I haven't seen your father since I was about 5." Ali says.

"It's a long story… things got bad up there. Actually… they got very bad… we're actually here because we're sort of… running away and hiding." Amber says.

"There are times I wish I could leave what happened behind… it's not always easy." Ali says, her and Amber seeing Caroline walk in. "Oh, for fuck's sake." She mutters, Amber lightly swatting her right arm as Sonny walked over to Caroline.

"Sonny… I didn't think I'd ever see you again." Caroline says. "Look, I need to file a police report, someone attacked my goddaughter Britt." She says.

"Caroline, there are extenuating-" Sonny starts to say, Caroline cutting him off.

"Britt said something that was taken out of context! Kids her age do that!" Caroline snapped, Ali about to stand up when Amber stopped her and stood up, walking over to Caroline. "Can I help you?!" She asks angrily.

"Someone attacked your goddaughter… hi." Amber says.

"You? Look, Britt didn't-" Caroline says.

"Britt didn't what, mean to insult and mouth off?! Rip the scab off of a healing wound in my life?!" Amber shouts before stepping right up to Caroline. "Let me ask you something… how would you like to be raped, huh?! Oh, and it wouldn't stop there either, oh no… there'd be guns too, a revolver shot right through your chest, cutting an artery and letting you bleed out across freezing snow! You die three times and the blood loss puts you in a coma for four days, and you want to know the final part about it?!" She says before cracking her hand across Caroline's face. "THAT HAPPENED TO ME!" She yells.

Ali stood up and carefully pulled Amber away before turning to Caroline.

"Britt deliberately pissed Amber off… ripping open wounds carelessly and thinking she didn't deserve any repercussions… how would you feel if that did happen to you, Caroline?!" Ali says, Caroline walking away.

"Has she always been like that, Dad?" Amber asks as she and Sonny hugged.

"There was a time that things were different, Amber… I was married to Caroline for a time, you and Brady have an older brother named Billy." Sonny says as they let go.

"I know… I found out in the archives before all hell broke loose." Amber says.

Ali walked into Martin's office and closed the doors, briefly closing her eyes.

"That got chaotic in a hurry." Ali says after turning to Martin. "Did anyone say how badly Amber beat Britt up?" She asks.

"It's not the full story but I know that Britt's got a couple of rods in her left leg and a pin in her left arm. Not sure about the injuries themselves." Martin says.

"Damn… hopefully, she realises after this that acting how she is won't let her walk away without any actions." Ali says.

 **A while later, North Shore…**

"Ow! Jake, watch that arm!" Britt screamed painfully as Jake accidentally brushed against her broken arm.

"Sorry. My mom just told me… did you see who did this?" Jake says after sitting down.

"All she said was to call her Air Con… no idea where that came from." Britt says.

"Damn… you remember anything before that?" Jake says.

"Well… her accent sounded from the north… very north, as in Canada or Alaska, that area… she was damn tall as well." Britt says.

"Taller than me? I think Todd and I might've met her brother." Jake says, Britt sitting up carefully.

"Bullshit… what did he do to you?" Britt says.

"Nothing to me… but he slammed a football into Todd's face and nailed him down on the table." Jake says.

"That's going too far!" Britt growls.

"Actually, Todd provoked him… tried to hit Ali." Jake says, Britt scowling slightly.

"Well in that case… Todd deserves a medal of honor." Britt says.

"Okay, one more whack to the head hasn't changed your attitude towards Ali. Let it go, she didn't deserve what that monster did to her." Jake says, Britt turning enraged.

"Are you fucking high?! She caused Alicia and Ryan to break up!" Britt yells.

"That wasn't Ali's fault, couples tend to break up! Ali was just being a good friend to Ryan, trying to help him!" Jake says before leaving.

Jake reached the police station to see that Ali, now in a white sundress and dark red leather sandals and her hair out of it's ponytail, was outside.

"You look stressed. She still mouthing off?" Ali says after Jake walked over to her. It wasn't uncommon to see Ali wearing a dress in early autumn, Miami could get so damn humid.

"Yeah… hey, I'm not gonna cause any trouble." Jake says after seeing Brady walk outside.

"You better not… keep it that way and I'll say no more on it." Brady says.

"I just want to apologize… Britt can be a bitch at times. I don't ever remember her being nice to anyone aside from me and Alicia." Jake says.

"Hopefully, she backs off…" Brady says.

' _Same here.'_ Jake thought before Brady left to find Ali.


	3. Chapter 3

**A while later…**

"Damn A/C unit." Ryan muttered, trying to fix the A/C as Ali, Amber and Brady walked in.

"Ryan!" Ali says, Ryan quickly spinning around to see her, Brady and Amber.

"Sorry… second time today that the damn thing stopped running." Ryan says as he and Ali hug.

"Floridians rely heavily on A/C, especially when we're barely out of summer." Ali says before she and Ryan let go. "Ryan, this is Amber and Brady Crockett. Guys, this is Ryan Rivera." She says, Ryan and Brady shaking hands before Ryan shook Amber's hand.

"Crockett… any relation to Billy Crockett?" Ryan asks.

"Younger half siblings." Amber says.

Out in the South Beach area, Sonny knocked on the door to Rico's house and it opened, revealing Rico and Trudy's daughter Veronica.

"Hi… Sonny, right?" Veronica says.

"That's right… old man around? I haven't seen him in quite a few years." Sonny says.

"Yeah." Veronica says, letting Sonny into the house and closing the door as Rico walked in from the backyard.

"Sonny?! Damn, it's been forever." Rico says as they hug.

"You finally settled down with Trudy, huh?" Sonny asks jokingly as they let go.

"Yep. Hey, have you met Martin and Gina's kids yet?" Rico says.

"Briefly… did they tell you about me, Julia and our kids?" Sonny says.

"Yeah… it's been rough lately, hasn't it?" Rico says, waiting until Veronica walked down the hallway and into her room.

"Yeah… and I also know what happened to Ali. Poor kid… she did what she had to do to save her older brother though, she reminds me of how Gina was after killing that guy that broke into her apartment." Sonny says.

"Same thing… did what she had to. But being justified doesn't take away guilt." Rico says.

"It never does." Sonny says.

 **A few hours later…**

"Stop giggling, damn you!" Brady whispers as he and Ali drunkenly snuck into the Castillo house, Ali more drunk than Brady.

"You drank as much as me, how are you still sober?" Ali asks.

"Because I'm a lot bigger than you and not so much a lightweight… but that's not to say I can't see like a granny who forgot her glasses." Brady says.

Ali laughed again, letting out a slight squeak as her right knee slammed against the coffee table and Brady catching her… before both heard footsteps upstairs.

"Oh, damn…" Ali whispers, Brady seeing Miguel charge at him with the bat.

"Get away from my sister!" Miguel yells, swinging at Brady.

"Hey, chill!" Brady says, grabbing the bat. "We both had a bit too much to drink, I was helping her home." He says, Miguel still angry and not believing him.

"Oh yeah, that's what they all say, right before the-" Miguel shouts, cut off by Brady grabbing him by the underside of his chin and running him back against the wall.

"You're speaking to Brady Crockett, pal, and you'd better get your damn head straight!" Brady growls.

"Calm it down before Mrs. Harris wakes up and starts yelling." Ali says, the lack of food in her stomach and the alcohol making her feel sick.

"Damn, how much did she have to drink?!" Miguel asks after Brady lets go of him, both helping Ali sit down and Brady lightly brushing Ali's hair back.

"That's the last time I let you talk me into tequila shots, pal." Ali says, resting her head against Brady's shoulder.

"She's piss drunk, we've gotta get her upstairs and sober before my parents get home!" Miguel says, Brady picking Ali up into his arms and standing up.

Miguel and Brady helped Ali upstairs, Miguel opening the second door to the right and Brady walking in, lightly putting Ali on her bed and making sure she was on her side.

"Amber get this drunk sometimes?" Ali asks.

"Amber's been drunk like you wouldn't believe… once, she ran off and drank her head stupid, we found her three hours later passed out on the beach next to a stolen Dodge pickup." Brady says.

"Miguel, why didn't you meet up with us earlier and have fun?" Ali asks after kicking her sandals off.

"My idea of fun is not drinking til you're senseless, Ali." Miguel says, Brady holding Ali's hair back as she threw up in the small red trash can nearby.

Ali eventually stopped and buried her face into her pillow, Miguel deciding to let her rest as Brady rinsed out the trash can and putting it back by Ali's queen sized bed. He snuck downstairs, returning with a bottle of water and some Advil, Ali taking two of them as Brady stretched out next to her, having to curl his legs up a bit.

"Sorry about the bed being too small, pal." Ali mumbles sleepily, Brady lightly rubbing his left hand up and down her left side.

Morning started too early in Brady's opinion as he rubbed his eyes when the sunlight hit them and looked down, seeing that Ali had curled her tiny frame up against him, her head resting on his torso and her right arm wrapped around him, reminding him of how Amber was after the attack.

Brady reached over Ali and grabbed his phone, seeing a text from Amber.

' _Where'd you and Ali disappear to last night?'_

' _Went off for more than a few drinks… not sure whether she's in my arms or I'm in hers right now.'_ Brady replies.

' _Typical, only you would find yourself in the same bed with someone you met only the day before!'_ Amber texts back.

' _That's not what I meant! She's most likely had a nightmare.'_ Brady replies.

' _Whatever you say. Just keep them on, boyo.'_ Amber replies, Brady smiling a bit, not exactly at the joke itself but at the fact that it was the first glimmer of humor Amber had shown since she was attacked.

Ali groaned quietly, finding waking up a bit difficult and slowly opened her eyes, looking up at Brady.

"How did we get back here?" Ali asks groggily.

"I halfway between carried and dragged you here." Brady says.

"I'm surprised Miguel didn't try to kill you." Ali says, her memory fuzzy.

"Believe me, he did, came at me with a damn bat. Had to hold him at the wall to chill him out." Brady says.

"Hey, keep it down over there!" Mrs. Harris yelled from the left of the Castillo house, Ali muttering in Cuban and Brady chuckling.

"That's the senile old neighbor, calls Miguel 'Marco' and always accuses him of playing loud music." Ali says as they let go, Brady carefully helping Ali up. "Thanks for… staying here last night." She says.

"Hey, I had to keep an eye on you. You were pretty nuts last night." Brady says.

"I've got to cut back on the drinking." Ali says as they hug, Brady sneaking out eventually.

Reaching the newly bought Crockett house, Brady tried to sneak in… but Sonny caught him.

"Ali holding up okay?" Sonny asks.

"Blacked out drunk, more like it. I had no idea someone so tiny can drink that much." Brady says.

Sonny nodded… but he was worried about Ali.


	4. Chapter 4

**Meanwhile…**

" _Hi, this is Ali. Leave a message."_ Ali heard her answering machine say as she towel dried her hair, deciding to not answer right now as she thought it was Veronica and she would just call back… after all, the two did grow up together and knew each other like sisters.

Instead, it was an infuriated Scottie Wheeler, who had somehow found out that Amber attacked Britt.

"You, Ali Castillo, are a vengeful little bitch! You resort to sendingsomeone to attack my daughter?! Whycan't you-"Scottie shouts, the call being cut off by Gina walking in and answering the phone.

"Why can't you and your daughter leave my kids alone, Scottie?! Britt is a disrespectful little brat and it's easy to see where she gets it from!" Gina says, Ali rubbing her sore makeup less eyes… and the fact that it was Gina who answered made Scottie hang up as Ali readjusted her pajama top.

"Miguel tell you what happened?" Ali asks, Gina seeing the bruise on her daughter's knee.

"Yeah… we've all had those kind of days. Even your dad." Gina says.

"Dad used to drink himself senseless? What about Uncle Sonny?" Ali asks, slightly surprised as Gina nodded, Gina thinking back.

 **10/2/84…**

"Sonny… quit trying to run into traffic." Gina says, the young detective trying to guide a drunken Sonny to the apartment. "You've got to try to sober up, we have an early day tomorrow!" She says, Sonny blowing a raspberry at her.

"We solved the case, we needed to unwind!" Sonny says, Gina managing to help him into her apartment and laying him down on the couch.

"You're usually in control of yourself. Why'd you drink heavily tonight?" Gina says, lightly brushing Sonny's hair back.

"Caroline… wants to take Billy... and move away to Atlanta." Sonny says sadly, Gina pulling him into her arms.

It wasn't long until Sonny fell asleep in her arms and Gina helped him up, guiding him to her room and helping him lie down on his left side.

"Sonny… you'll find happiness with someone one day. But I don't think that it'll be me… we're at very different places in our lives." Gina whispered, absentmindedly tucking some of Sonny's short hair behind his right ear and setting out a bottle of aspirin and water before she headed into the restroom to wash her makeup off.

Dressed for sleep, Gina tucked Sonny into the bed before climbing under the covers herself and turning the lamp out.

It was gonna be a long day tomorrow… and she wanted to be rested up enough for it.

 **Present time…**

"You weren't kidding when you said those days were rough." Brady says after Sonny told him about the time Caroline wanted to take Billy and leave Florida.

"Things had only just started going downhill… but we pulled through in the end." Sonny says.

"I think Amber's acting like her old self again…" Brady says, Sonny smiling.

"That's good… it's been way too long since I even heard her laugh." Sonny says.

Outside, Amber was sitting in a lawn chair when a small alligator wandered up to her and rested its head on her right foot, making her chuckle.

"Well, hello to you too." Amber says, lightly patting the baby alligator on its head as Julia wandered over to her. "Hey, Mom." She says, Julia smiling at the alligator.

"Aw, looks like Elvis did." Julia says.

 **Meanwhile…**

"Close those!" Ali mumbled as Miguel yanked the curtains open, letting the sun in and nearly blinding Ali.

"Come on, wake up!" Miguel says, lightly swatting Ali's bruised knee and not knowing it was bruised.

"Ow! Miguel, don't do that!" Ali says, Miguel pulling the covers up and seeing the bruises that were about the size of the edge of the coffee table. "I couldn't see straight last night. And don't attack Brady anymore, he was only helping me." She says, Miguel propping Ali's knee up on her extra pillow.

"He had me freaking out." Miguel says.

"He's a gentle person." Ali says.

"I didn't know that." Miguel says.

"Well, what did you think?" Ali asks.

"Initially, I thought he'd put something in your drink and hadn't expected me to be home, put it that way." Miguel says.

"He wouldn't drug me…" Ali says, Miguel seeing the look in her eyes. "He has a twin sister… who was also attacked back in January and it went a hell of a lot further than what Calderone did to us." She says, Miguel's eyes widening in shock.

"Damn… Calderone?" Miguel says.

"I think he had help… Amber ended up dying three times because on top of the attack, she was shot." Ali says.

Across town, Amber walked to the front of the house… and smiled when she saw Izzy trying to sell what Amber guessed was stolen jewelry.

"Dad, come see this." Amber says, Sonny walking to her and seeing Izzy.

"Some things never change." Sonny says.

"He's done this before?" Amber asks.

Sonny nodded before he and Amber walked over to Izzy, who smiled.

"Sonny, long time no see, amigo!" Izzy says happily.

"Izzy Moreno, still up to your old scams, I see?" Sonny asks.

"No scam. Genuinely made jewelry at low prices." Izzy says, Amber examining a diamond necklace.

"Genuine? Who are you trying to fool?" Amber asks sarcastically, Izzy backing up slightly.

 **A while later…**

Ready for the day, Ali found herself at a beach with Brady… and let out a low, humorless chuckle as it started raining heavily, her and Brady running towards the boardwalk and taking shelter under the pawn shop awning.

"Well, welcome to South Florida." Ali says, wringing the water out of her raven curls.

"Does it always start raining randomly?" Brady asks with a slight laugh as he shook the rain water out of his blonde hair… and some of that water onto Ali, who let out a startled yelp as she almost slipped, Brady catching her.

His large hands rested on her sides, she was like a small china doll underneath his touch as they looked at each other.

Having to crouch a bit, Brady leaned in and his lips crashed against Ali's as her hands rested on his face, reciprocating the kiss as the storm raged on around them.

Slowing Jake's car down, Alicia's eyes widened in shock… to her, it was like Sonny and Gina over 20 years ago.


End file.
